General Question

If the president were to die today, what happens in terms of the election?

I know that if the president were to die, the vice president becomes president. What happens in regards to the nomination to run for president for the incumbent’s party? Does the vice president automatically get the nod? Does the national committee for that party get together in some kind of emergency session to officially nominate the vice president for president?

11 Answers

No, it has not happened in the US. And the national committee would nominate a new candidate for the ballot. But it would not necessarily be the vice president getting the nomination.

If the winner dies between the election and the casting of the electoral ballots in December, the electors may vote for someone else. If the winner dies between the casting of the electoral ballots and the electoral ballots being counted when Congress convenes, the electoral votes would be invalid, and the House would vote for a new President. The rules for that are that each State delegation gets one vote.

@filmfann , it could be Clinton/Biden not Biden/Clinton if they wanted to win. Has anyone besides me seen an escalation in the threats against the president? Reading comments on news posts onnfacebook can be really scary.

@ninja_man – That scenario isn’t what I was asking. LBJ became president in November of 1963 after Kennedy’s assassination. He chose to run in 1964, and was nominated at the convention in Atlantic City. If I were to put this in the current context, I know that if President Obama died, VP Biden becomes president until the inauguration of whoever becomes president. My question was about what happens regarding the nomination for president should Obama die prior to election. (Which @zenvelo answered.)